And His Madness She Did Possess
by Starjargon
Summary: Someone has been waiting for the Doctor a very long time. Now, he's back and the Ponds learn more about their friend than they ever imagined.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N- So, I'm starting a new short story, but real life has stopped me from fully writing it out at the moment. But here's chapter one, just to whet your appetite.**

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She was just cleaning up after her work with the children that day, ready to begin the walk to her large hut where she had been living for… such a very long time.

Suddenly, she saw a flash just past the trees, yet no clouds in the sky. Then, just as suddenly, she heard voices on the previously empty road.

"River, are you sure this is where we're supposed to meet them?"

"Of course I'm sure. I'm not _him_ you know. I actually do get where I mean to go."

"It just seems… sort of middle of nowhereish. No, you're right. This is exactly where we're meant to be."

She came upon the speakers of the voices: a man with sandy blonde hair and a lanky form, and a woman with mesmerizing eyes and voluptuous curves.

The woman carried a blaster at her side, the man a small kit. One Earth humans once used to haul medical supplies, in a time long, long ago, she thought wistfully.

"Can I help you with something?" she asked as she came upon them, smiling nervously.

"Wha- oh! No, dear. We're just… passing through. Waiting for our ride."

"A ride? Out here? You're a little lost aren't you? Not many vehicles can make it here with these roads, and even then you'd need a mad man to try. The paths to this spot are treacherous and full of holes and danger if you don't know what you're doing. In fact, how did you two come here?"

"Well, first of all, we were under the impression _no one_ else would be here. Second of all, you should meet our designated driver. Only he would make a such a dangerous, hard to reach locale a rendezvous point."

She took them in again, assessing their threat level to the multiple villages she'd adopted. Though the woman in front of her radiated warrior in every movement, she sensed the blaster would only be used if she were thoroughly provoked. But the man- his stance, sure yet reticent, spoke of a power, a soldier who lay just below the surface. And that made her more wary of him than the woman who wore her danger like a second skin.

She thought it best to secure the threat before it became one, and the man had extraordinary kind eyes, despite his strength. The woman's eyes, she realized belatedly, seemed to carry the exact same fierceness and compassion. She briefly wondered if the two of them were related.

"You're welcome to join me while you wait for this ride of yours. I live just over that hill there. Come. Please."

The two looked at each other briefly, the woman assessing her quickly, before nodding and moving forward. The man seemed to take his cues from her, and followed.


	2. Chapter 2

"Doctor, you're telling me you ran away from home when you were already an old man?" asked Amy, staring at the picture of the white- haired gentleman she's tricked him, again, into pulling up.

"A young man, Pond. An extraordinarily young man." He stared at the picture, happily remembering many of the moments in the life of his first face.

"You don't look so young. Although, that companion of yours… Doctor- you do have a thing for the ladies, don't you?!" she teased, staring at the very youthful- looking woman beside him.

"Oi! I'll have you know Vicki was a very nice young girl. Once, we had such a time with Nero! And don't let anyone tell you that fire was my fault."

"Was it your fault?" she asked wryly, looking up at him in suspicion.

"Well, I may have accidently given him the id- NO. No, it most certainly was _not_ my fault." He flailed unconvincingly.

"Right," her voice oozed scepticism, "and you're telling me you didn't happen to notice even then that most of your companions were young… beautiful… female?" She looked sideways up at him at this last point, eyebrow raised as she pinned him with her gaze.

"Eww," his voice had taken on a particularly disgusted tone that just perfectly matched his face. "Don't be gross, Pond. Vickie was an orphan. We were great friends. She had just lost her father, I had just lost… Well, it would have been like... like being attracted to… to you!"

"No need to spare my feelings," she said grumpily, arms crossed over her chest.

"Do you need me to remind you of my relationship to your _daughter_?" He asked distractedly, focused on steering them to rendezvous with their respective spouses.

"I'm not saying I _want_ you to have those feelings for me, just saying you don't have to sound so repulsed by the thought."

He paused in his flying for a moment, contemplating her remark, and then shuddered hard as though to shake loose a horrendous image. Amy punched him brutally on the shoulder.

"Ouch!" he bellowed.

"My feelings exactly, Raggedy Man."

"Didn't we already have this discussion? Because I feel like we did. In fact, I'm sure of it."

"I'm just saying, it would be nice to know you've at least recognized at one point in all the time we've travelled together that I am in fact, female."

"Of course I noticed that. Noticed that right off. It was the hair." He pointed to her long ginger locks, "And, you know, the bossy attitude." She gave him a cross look at that. "Not to mention the fact that you _once gave birth to my wife_," he tried, keeping the console between them, hoping to remain smack free from then on.

"It just sounds wrong when you say it like that," she observed, deciding whether a pout was appropriate or not at the moment.

She scrutinized him, making him duck down to ostensibly work on flying once again. Then, she decided to let _that _particular subject go, since the photo had piqued her curiosity on something else.

"So, when you ran away from home, you had a family, yeah?"

He really was concentrating on his ship now, no trace of amusement in his voice.

"There were people there who meant a great deal to me, of course."

"So, did you have a mum and dad?"

"Everyone has a mum and dad."

"Yeah, but-"

"What would make you think I didn't have a mum and dad? Where do you think I got all my cool style, and dashing good looks?"

He straightened his bowtie at this, looking proudly at his old photo.

She snorted, covering her mouth before looking up and patting him on the shoulder in mock sympathy.

"Well... that first face looooong ago did have a sort of distinguished quality about it, I suppose."

"Hey!" he proclaimed, offended once he realized she had specified the not- current version of himself.

"You look _really_ old here," she reiterated, focusing once more on the man he used to be. "How old were you, in Time Lord?"

"Oh, old enough," he said, calculating his age briefly before going about his business once more.

"Old enough for what?" she asked, turning to see a wistful look in his eyes.

"Everything. I'd gone through the Academy already. Became an official Time Lord... Took my TARDIS flying classes. Some of them," he amended.

"And did you pass?" she asked with a knowing smile on her face.

"I'm sure I would have." He waved his hand dismissively.

"So, even by Time Lord years, you were an adult, yeah?"

"Of course!" he said, clapping his hands together before spreading his arms and smiling in his "and look at me now" manner.

"So, did you have a girlfriend? Or a wife?" she wondered, staring again at the man in the picture, trying to reconcile life of the old looking young man with the young looking old man next to her. She looked up when he didn't answer.

"Doctor?" her voice filled with concern now that the light seemed to have left his eyes.

"Hmm?" he grunted, suddenly very focused once more on his ship.

"Did you... did you have a wife back then?"

He was silent a few moments more, until she gave up hope he would answer her question. Then, surprisingly, she heard him, hardly a whisper.

"Yeah," he sounded as though the word barely made it out of his mouth. "Yeah, I had a wife."

She came up next to him, putting a hand on his shoulder and squeezing comfortingly. "Did you leave her behind?" she asked quietly. "When you ran away? Or did she come with you?"

He kept his head down, flipping levers and pushing buttons slowly, as though it took all his effort to do so.

"No," Amy could hear the utter sadness in his voice, "no, I didn't leave my wife behind. When I left, she'd already... Gallifrey wasn't my home anymore. My family was grown, my wife was gone, and I wanted to see the universe."

Amy gasped softly, squeezing him once more in sympathy. "So did you have children?" she asked, her eyes softening as she tried to imagine what her best friend must have lost.

The Doctor looked down again, breathing in deeply one time before giving his head a small shake and pulling down a lever.

"It was a long time ago." His tone was matter- of- fact now, and Amy sensed the conversation was over.


End file.
